Grealish still waiting on England clearance

Jack Grealish will have to wait until the new year before he is considered for his first England cap after FIFA confirmed the Aston Villa midfielder has still not been given international clearance.

Grealish represented Ireland at youth level, but decided to switch his allegiance to England, the country of his birth, five weeks ago. The Aston Villa midfielder and the English Football Association submitted the relevant documents to FIFA at the end of September, but world football's governing body confirmed that clearance had still not been granted.

A FIFA spokesperson said: "We can confirm having been contacted by the Football Association with a request for change of association of the player Jack Grealish. The matter is pending and being investigated by our services and as a result, we are not in a position to comment on it any further nor to give an estimation as to the relevant time line."

With Grealish ineligible to play, it is expected he will be left out of Roy Hodgson's squad for the upcoming matches against Spain and France.

Whether Hodgson invites Grealish to fly to Alicante in order to get some experience of being around the squad next week remains to be seen.

The former Fulham manager asked the 20-year-old to come to St George's Park to get to know the England set-up during the last international get together, but the move was blocked by Tim Sherwood, who has now been replaced by Remi Garde as Aston Villa boss.